


That Action

by TwirlsWrites



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, New Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Idiots in Love, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:58:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/935043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwirlsWrites/pseuds/TwirlsWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But you and Iron Fist broke up, right? Because I'd like to take a shot at that action. Heh." -New Avengers V1 #53<br/>After Spider-Man makes a joke about asking out Iron Fist, he incurs the wrath of Luke and Jessica; In an effort to get back on their good side, he resolves to ignore Danny. Somehow in the process he ends up getting relationship advice from Daredevil, propositioned by Black Cat, and winds up accidentally dating Danny Rand anyhow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Action

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I should clarify: this entire fic is inspired by [ this set of panels](http://tokidokifish.tumblr.com/post/39185968619) from New Avengers V1 #53.

Peter started noticing it pretty soon after what was fondly referred to as the “crazy voodoo debacle #734.” Jessica and Luke were _watching him_ and they’d randomly show up when he was in the middle of a conversation.

There was one time where he was chatting with Iron Fist about a movie he had seen last week, and all of the sudden Luke was handing Danny the baby and asking him to watch her for a sec and he’d pulled Peter away. Then after that one mission, and Peter went to give him a high-five and all of the sudden Jessica was there high-fiving him instead. It took an embarrassingly long time for Peter to realize what was going on, and once he did it was still pretty embarrassing.

“I’m not _actually_ going to make a move on Iron Fist,” Peter said to the dead air. A woman walking past gave him a strange look, but that was the only acknowledgment he got. He glanced around as if Luke or Jessica was going to come around the corner and jump him. Peter gave a nod, mentally setting himself to make a decision.  He would wait for it to pass, was all; they’d get bored eventually and then things wouldn’t be awkward. Fine.

 

The thing Peter forgot was that Danny was a pretty straightforward guy. Easy to talk to, and not afraid of confrontation; So if he noticed someone avoiding him, there was no lovely layer of self-doubt and sarcasm to bury down the urge to ask why.

Yeah, Peter forgot that until he opened the door expecting to see the pizza guy but seeing Danny Rand instead. 

(though to be fair, he was holding a pizza box)

“Iron Fist?” he said blankly after staring for a moment, “why are you holding a pizza box?” was the first question out of his mouth as opposed to, say, what he was doing there or how he had found him or hey - your best friend isn’t going to show up in 5 seconds and glare at me until my head explodes, is he?

“Neither of us are in costume, you can call me Danny,” was the reply he got. “I caught the pizza guy on his way up, can I come in?”

“Sure, yeah,” Peter said, moving out of the doorway and accepting the pizza box as Danny walked past him into his apartment. “So, what can I do for you, Danny?”

“You’ve been avoiding me and I wanted to make sure that I hadn’t done anything to offend you,” Danny replied. Peter opened and closed his mouth before settling on distracting himself with the pizza.

“I haven’t been… I’m just really busy. I’m on like seventeen teams right now, you know.”

“That’s what I thought at first, but no one else has really noticed anything and you’ve had team-ups with most of the rest of the team, so…” he watched Peter expectantly.

“Pizza?” Peter offered, holding out the box. Danny did not look impressed. “Okay, look dude…” There was no way in hell that Peter was going to tell Danny he made a joke about asking him out and incurred the Cages’ wrath. He leaned against the wall, watching Danny carefully. “We’re friends, right?”

“I’d like to think so,” Danny said.

“Okay, right, and you’re awesome but I think Luke was feeling… threatened? Because you and him are the best of friends, and you and I were getting to be pretty good friends? So he got really mad and I figured I’d just give him time to cool off because Jess and Luke combined are pretty intimidating.” He waited a few seconds as Danny digested this, wincing at his own inability to make up excuses. He was so good at this in High School, what happened?

“Well that’s stupid,” Danny said finally. Peter winced, but Danny continued. “Luke doesn’t actually get a say in who I make friends with. I don’t like it when people avoid me, so how about we just be friends anyway?” He seemed to misinterpret Peter’s surprised silence as reluctance and smiled, “I can protect you from the Cages.”

“That sounds good,” Peter said with a smile. “Friends it is. Want some pizza?” 

“By the way,” Danny said as he grabbed a slice. “You should add me to your approved visitors list at Horizon - I tried to stop by there on my lunch break, but they said they couldn’t let me through because I wasn’t on the list.” Peter shrugged and took a bite of his pizza. “Then again, they said I probably wouldn’t want to anyway - apparently you have a reputation of doing your science in the buff.”

Peter choked on the pizza, and Danny laughed long past the point where he could breathe again.

 

After that, things got more… normal. Spider-Man and Iron Fist didn’t really hang out after battles, or even really talk that much in the mansion, but Danny and Peter hung out all the time. They would grab lunch during their breaks (well, Danny’s breaks. As an eccentric scientist Peter could normally get away with just taking a break whenever). Peter attempted to show Danny the magic of the Mets and in return Danny invited Peter to help volunteer at the charity tee-ball tournament Rand Co was putting on.

Peter hadn’t actually realized how much time he was spending with his new friend until Black Cat brought it up when he ran into her on one of his patrols.

“Glad to see you’re getting over the red-head there, Spider,” she said, landing next to him. Peter rolled his eyes - he never understood what the Cat had against Mary Jane considering she had made it clear that she wasn’t all that attracted to Peter himself.

“Well you know, it’s been a few years so I decided to scrap the little shrine I had set up and back the blood chants down to once a week - what are you talking about, Cat?”

“Don’t be coy, Peter - I’m talking about your new flame!” Peter frowned, calling him by his name wasn’t a particularly good tradition for Felicia.

“What are you talking about?” he repeated.

“The Rand CEO!  The one you’ve been spending all of your free time with,” she said with a roll of her eyes. She crossed her arms. “I’m just saying, it’s cute - he is very very cute.”

“What, Danny?” Peter said as the realization hit. “We’re not… he’s not a ‘new flame,’ Cat; he’s a friend.”

“Mhmm,” Cat purred, “Sure. Let me know if he needs a beard, have you seen what Daniel Rand is worth lately?”

“You’re being weird. I’m going to go protect the city now.”

“Or just let me know if you two want to spice things up,” Felicia gave an exaggerated wink and Peter webbed a line to swing the hell out of there.

 

“I am a kung-fu master!” Danny exclaimed, furiously smashing the buttons on his controller. Peter gave a triumphant laugh.

“You may be, young Padawan, but I am a button-smashing master.”  He let out a whoop as the victory cut scene took over the screen. Danny sighed and set the controller to the side.

“I’m just malnutritioned - I believe I was promised food.”

“Food’s on its way, stop whining.”

“How was your patrol last night?” Danny asked. He stretched back from where he was sitting on the floor until he could touch the top of the couch. Peter stood, walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

“Good. I got stopped a few muggings and got propositioned by Black Cat.” Danny gave a short laugh.

“A day in the life,” he said. “Spidey gets all the ladies.”

“My primary colors bring all the girls to the yard and their like, damn that’s bright and I’m like -” There’s a buzz, and he cuts himself off, walking over to buzz up the food.

Five minutes later, Danny sat unpacking Chinese food containers from the bag while Peter went to grab drinks.                

“Hey, want a beer?” he called over. Danny turned, looking confused.

“You don’t drink,” he pointed out.

“You do,” Peter replied with a shrug. “Almost everyone drinks beer, I tend to keep it stocked just in case.” Danny considered for a pause.

“Sure, grab me one.”

“Why do you drink?” Peter asked as he walked back over, sliding a bottle of beer across the coffee table, sitting cross-legged on the other side of it. “I mean, I sort of figured ancient mystic monks would have some sort of sobriety factor.”

“Monks drink,” Danny replied. ”A lot. But, really, I mean…” he paused, thinking over his words before continuing, eyes on the beer bottle. “Coming from Ku’un Lu’un to New York City was disorienting, to say the least. But, once I got a tv set up I tried to… this is embarrassing, okay I tried to take some social cues from that. Almost every show has some scene of friends sitting around at home or in a bar drinking beers and ruminating on life.” He glanced up to find Peter watching him with a big grin and he averted his eyes again, visibly embarrassed. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Peter protested. “I was going to make a joke and then admit that that’s…” he trailed off, realizing he was about to say cute. His mind flashed back to the conversation with Black Cat and he pushed it from thoughts, “cool. Here.” He hopped up, going into the kitchen and coming back with a similar bottle to Danny’s.”

“Peter you don’t -“

“Root beer,” Peter said with a grin. He sat back in his spot and lifted his bottle with a grin. “Cheers.” Danny smiled back and lifted his bottle in return.

“You and Black Cat though, you were together at one point right?” Danny asked. Peter grimaced and he sighed.

“Sort of? I mean, we were definitely a thing… we had some good times.” He gave a chuckle and it came out a bit more bitter than he had intended, “In the end though, a better term might be a team-up with benefits. She only liked Spider-Man, not Peter Parker.”

“Well, I think you’re both pretty great,” Danny offered. Peter grinned, rolling his eyes.

“Thanks, you sap. Anyway, I don’t think she was serious about her… suggestion. Last I saw, she was still connected with Daredevil.”

“Bitter?”

“More than you might expect,” Peter admitted. “But nah, not really. Cat is great and everything, but I’d rather not have a relationship based solely on my secret identity. I’ve had far too many of those on the other side.” As it always did during thought like this, his mind drifted to MJ and he winced, distracting himself with the food. “I hope they’re very happy together.”

“Mhmm,” Danny said, eyebrows raised as he sipped at his beer.

“I’m serious, man. Do you want me to start opening up your past relationships?” Danny winced too.

“I haven’t had near enough beer for that,” he said.

“My point,” Peter said. Danny tilted his head in concession. “Anyway, enough about the Parker Luck - how was your day?” Danny snorted at the deflection, but he was a good friend so he launched into a story about a few of the people in the accounting department anyway.

 

It was a meal and a movie later; Peter was sprawled on the couch, his stomach filled and his mind content. Danny still sat on the ground right below him, watching the bottle cap twirling on the coffee table as though it answered the secrets to the universe.

“You’re right, Peter.” He said suddenly.

“I’m right about a lot of things,” Peter said with a grin that Danny couldn’t see… “mostly, I mean.” 

“No, you’ve trusted me with a lot; and I trust you - I should open up about my past relationships.” Peter turned, finding Danny still watching the cap.

“I was kidding, Danny. You don’t have to.”

“No, I… Misty was one of the first people I met in New York. She was… is, really amazing. I remember thinking that if this was what all of the women were like in New York, I was really going to love it here.” He gave an uncharacteristically bitter smile. “I uh, I was amazed when we got together. It was like… how could someone so amazing choose me? Every day it was like a new gift and…” he ran a hand over his face. “Damn I’m a sappy drunk. I loved her, I guess is the easiest way to put it. I loved her… still do, probably always will. I proposed to her,” he picked up one of the smaller Chinese food containers. “with one of these, just stuck the ring in…”

He was quiet for a beat, and Peter wasn’t sure if he was done or not. When Danny started again, he was whispering.

“We thought… we were going to have a baby. The, ah, the nature of the Iron Fist sometimes leads to that - a false positive. After that we couldn’t… function anymore. We just fell apart. One day I thought we might… find a way to keep going, and the next we were moving apart.” It was quiet, and then Peter found himself talking.

“I was almost married once too,” Peter said quietly. He hated talking about this, _hated it_. But, shock of all shocks, he actually did trust Danny. “Mary Jane and I… gosh, it was perfect. We were together for so long, I loved her so much. We were engaged and it was… and then, on our wedding day…” he trailed off.

“A bad guy crashed the party?” Danny offered after a beat. Peter grinned slightly, though he didn’t think Danny had looked up yet.

“Not exactly. I got stuck being a good guy and I was late to the ceremony. After that we sort of had to reconsider, you know? What were my priorities, what were the expectations… In the end, we… we decided it wouldn’t work out, and we broke up.”

“On your wedding day?” Danny’s voice was quiet.

“Apparently not,” Peter said, not even trying to hide how bitter he felt about the whole thing. “MJ jetted off to start her film career and I’m here - fighting off ninjas and voodoo and skrulls and Norman Osborne, just like always.”

They were both quiet for a bit. Peter started laughing. He slid off of the couch until he was sitting on the floor next to Danny, who was giving him a strange look. He tried to control his laughter, but couldn’t. After a minute Danny started chuckling too before he broke out laughing just as loud as Peter.

“Ah, screw it,” Peter said after a few minutes. His sides hurt, “Let’s see what’s on tv.” He leaned over Danny to grab the remote where it had been abandoned on the floor. “Normally there’s Harry Potter or that one movie where Arnold and Jamie Lynn Curtis are married.”

“Why do you insist on using actor names when you know I don’t recognize actor names?” Danny said, his voice a sigh. “But yeah, let’s see what’s on. I could use a good movie as long as it’s not a repeat of Lion King.”

“I told you I was sorry about that!” Peter exclaimed, more than a bit defensive. “When you said you’d never seen it I thought that was weird and it just turned out to be another situation in which Luke is smarter than I am.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up - it wasn’t _that_ bad,” Danny muttered, slouching slightly.

“I apologized, right?”

“Yes, let’s let it go - oh, hey, it says Star Wars is on!”

“That’s Episode One, it doesn’t count,” Peter replied. Danny shot him a puzzled look and he sighed. “Fine, but you asked for it.”

As the marathon came to an end, a good six hours later, Danny stared at the screen in shocked disbelief and Peter had to chuckle a bit.

“I tried to warn you,” he pointed out.

“He cut off all of his limbs and left him to burn?” he exclaimed. “What was the point of that? If you’re going to kill him, kill him - don’t leave him to die a slow, torturous death!”

“Well there would be no Star Wars without Darth Vader, so…” Peter shrugged. Danny let out a huff. “Most people hate the prequels.”

“They weren’t that bad,” Danny said after a pause. “It was interesting to see the back-story for Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. Plus, Qui-Gon Jinn was cool.”

“The coolest!” Peter agreed. He stifled a yawn and his eyes drifted over to the clock next to the couch. He winced. “Man it’s late,” he muttered.

“I should take off,” Danny said, stretching out.

“Dude, it’s after 3 in the morning - take the couch.” Peter said. He stood, “You really want to be walking home right now?”

“It’s not like anyone is going to mess with me,” Danny said with a yawn. His fist lit up as an explanation.

“Yeah but you’ll fall asleep before you get there. Take the couch, seriously.” He paused, Cat’s words returning to ring around his brain. “This is weird isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not weird… thanks Peter,” Danny said. Peter flipped off the tv. 

“I’ll grab you some sweats or something to sleep in.”

“No I can sleep in this,” Danny said. He started to unbutton his shirt, and then hesitated.

“Are you being self-conscious right now?” Peter asked, even as he wandered off into the other room. “Because I seem to remember your old costume being nothing more than an excuse to show off your abs.”

“Shut-up,” Danny said, his tone implying a regular argument. He rolled his eyes, and waved Peter away.

Peter laughed to himself as he went and got ready for bed, and then hopped into bed and promptly spent three hours staring at his ceiling in the dark as he realized that he may in fact have feelings for Danny that were hoping for a bit more than friendship.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

 

There was no reason to freak out about this, Peter decided. Even if he might have a crush on Danny, and even if Danny was awesome and made him breakfast that was waiting when he woke up - Danny himself long gone - Danny was his friend, and that was that. It didn’t have to be weird.

It was a little bit weird.

The thing was, Peter didn’t actively try to avoid Danny this time. It just sort of happened because Max needed his help with a big project. He was just… coincidentally avoiding Danny. So when Danny stopped by Horizon a few days later, Peter let him in.

“What… is this?” Danny asked, taking in the various whiteboards.

“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Peter said solemnly. After a beat, he grinned. “Rand Co could be considered a competitor as far as technological patents go, you know... Anyway, it would take too long to explain.” Danny shrugged, though he did spend another few seconds with his eyes on the schematics. “Anyhow, I can’t really take a break right now so I’m not exactly going to be good company for lunch.”

“That’s fair,” Danny said. Peter turned to gauge his reaction, but he didn’t look upset. “I’ll catch you later then.”

“Thanks,” Peter said. “For not getting…” he trailed off.

“Don’t sweat it, just remember to eat.” Danny called as he left, closing the door behind him.

A few hours later, Peter got called to the front to sign for a pizza that had been dropped off with the note “you forgot to eat, didn’t you?” attached to it. He stared down at the pizza in his hands, mind whirring before he reached the conclusion.

“I’m going to do it,” he decided.

“Do what?” Sajani, who was leaving for the night, stopped to ask.

“Uh, I’m going to…” he waved the pizza a bit. “I’m going to ask him out. Worst he can say is no, right?”

“Wait, you’re not dating this guy but he brings you pizza?” Sajani clarified. She let out a low whistle. “Yeah, you’re not going to have much trouble. Good luck, Parker.”

“Uh, right… thanks.”

 

            Four hours later he was back at his apartment, standing in front of his bathroom mirror, and practicing asking Danny out.

            “So, Danny. We’re pretty good friends, and I was wondering if… ah, you know, you wanted to add hand-holding and dates to our activities? No, that’s stupid jeeze Parker.”

He tried again,

“Danny, I like you. Like, I like-like you. Like _that_. What am I, in high school again? Hell, middle school even. Okay, Danny - ”  

“I’m just going to stop you now because this is one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever heard and my best friend’s nickname is Foggy.”

“Matt! Jesus!” Peter jumped, spinning around to find Daredevil smirking at him from the doorway.

“Have you considered just asking him if he wanted to grab dinner sometime?”

“You were here for…”

“Yeah, I heard it all.”

“Of course. Why are you here Matlock?”

“To give you advice on your budding romance with Iron Fist?”

“What! I don’t, we’re not… we’re not dating. We may be dating. I think I want us to be dating?” Peter cut himself off, crossed his arms, and glowered at Matt. “Fine. Dispense your wondrous advice.”

“You need to talk to Luke and Jessica before you do anything,” he replied.

“What? That’s… he’s a grown man, I don’t need to check with his friends before I ask him out on a date!”

“Yes you do.”

“Yeah I do.” Peter paused, contemplating. “Do you know where they live since they ditched the Mansion?”

“Yeah, let me just write it down for you… oh wait.”

“Don’t pull that Matt, tell me where they live.”

“Fine, get a pen.”

 

Not wanting to let himself chicken out, Peter stopped by the Cages’ the very next day. He stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and rang their apartment number.

“Hello?” Jessica’s voice came through.

“Hey, it’s Peter.”

“Aha, I was wondering when you were going to stop by - come on up.” The door buzzed and Peter gulped.

“Welcome to our humble abode,” Jessica greeted.

“Wait, who’s here?” Luke’s voice called from the direction of what Peter assumed was the kitchen.

“Didn’t you hear the buzzer? It’s Peter!” Jess called back. She motioned for him to follow her and led the way into the kitchen.

“Oh, hey man,” Luke greeted, glancing over from the fry pan. “Pancake?”

“No thanks, I won’t be long.” Jessica was watching him with a smirk. “What?”

“Go on, say it.”

“Say what?” Luke asked, sitting in the chair next to Jessica and sliding a plate of pancakes over to her.

“He’s here to talk to us about Danny,” Jessica said. Peter stared.

“How did you know that?”

“Peter, I used to be a private investigator - I notice things,” Jessica replied.

“Wait, big Danny or little Dani?” Luke clarified.

“Big Danny - Luke, haven’t you noticed that Peter shows up in his stories all the time?” Jessica said, turning to him. “Peter’s here to tell us that they’re dating - I bet that’s why Danny took Dani to the children’s museum today.”

“What?” Luke demanded, turning to Peter with a glare.

“What!” Peter echoed, holding up his hands. “No, no, wait, hold on. We are not dating… really, no. I uh, I wanted to get your permission to ask him out.”

“That’s the cutest shit I’ve ever heard,” Jessica said. She was still smirking, not seeming all that put out that she got part of it wrong. “Also, you’re totally dating already.”

“Does Danny think we’re dating already?” Peter asked, feeling his stomach drop. Just how big of an idiot had he been? Jessica’s smirk fell and she rolled her eyes.

“No. At very least he would have talked to us about it. He’s a bigger idiot than you are. He probably thinks that you see him as just a friend; you’ll have to make the first move.”

“What are your intentions with Danny?” Luke asked, glare never abating.

“Luke, come the fuck on,” Jessica said, elbowing him. Luke shook his head.

“No you come on, if he’s going to do the whole thing he’s going to do the whole thing,” Luke said to her before turning back to Peter. “Well?”

“I uh - I intend to date him maybe?” Peter replied weakly. Luke did not seem impressed. Peter opened his mouth to try again, but was cut off by the door opening.

“We’re ba~ack,” Danny’s voice came sing-songing from the other room. “And guess who got a balloon!” the sound of a child’s giggle followed and for a split second Peter contemplated taking his chances going out the window. Then Danny appeared in the doorway.

“Daddy!” Dani exclaimed, squirming out of Danny’s grip to run and give her father a hug. There was indeed a balloon tied securely to her wrist. That was about the moment Danny noticed Peter sitting there.

“Peter, hey!” He greeted, the grin on his face breaking into a wide smile. “What are you doing here?”

Peter was fairly sure he just lost all of his words. Figures - people had been trying to find a way to shut him up for years and it turns out all it takes is Daniel Rand’s smile.

“Cap sent him over to double-check if I can make a meeting with him at the mansion next week. I said yes,” Luke answered for him. Peter turned sharply.

“You did?” he clarified. Luke met his eyes and gave him a solemn nod.

“Yes,” he said.

“Dumbasses,” Jessica muttered under her breath. When Dani turned to look up at her she gave her daughter a wide smile. “Want to share Mommy’s pancakes?” She asked. Danny gave them all a weird look.

“O…kay,” he said. Peter let out a breath, and noticed Dani was looking at him.

“Hi,” he greeted “I’m Peter.”

“Do you wan’ to watch a movie wi’ us?” Dani asked. “Danny hasn’ seen Tangled.”

“I love Tangled,” Peter replied. “But I can’t today.”

“Big plans?” Jessica asked, pulling her daughter onto her lap.

“You could say that. Some of the kids noticed weird sounds coming from Johnny’s room at the Baxter Building. As I’m one of the few human beings capable of reading his handwriting, Scott called me in to go through the notes he left and make sure nothing’s going to explode.” Peter replied. He’d been operating under the general mindset that the Fantastic Four were going to be fine and it was just a long vacation… which was hard to do when he actually visited and didn’t really see any sign of their presence. The thought of any of them dying… again was one he did not want to contemplate, and insane old man ‘Johnny’ gave him the creeps.

“Sounds… fun?” Luke said. Peter shrugged and glanced at the clock on the microwave.

“Sounds like a very long afternoon,” he corrected dryly. “I think they’re trying to get me to put the fear of God in Bentley or something, and that is not my strength. Anyway, I better head out. It was nice to see you Cages, little Cage, Danny.” 

“Bye Peter,” Danny said. As he slipped out the front door, Peter could hear snippits of conversation from the kitchen.

“Did you have fun at the museum, sweetie?” Luke asked.

“Yeah,” Dani answered, “but coming home was the bes’, we got to go on the rooftops!”

“Danny!”

“I’m going to go change!” Danny said loudly. Peter had to chuckle as he closed the door behind him.

 

“Thanks for that, Webs. Dragon Man said it was probably fine - but you can never be too sure of anything around here,” Jen said as the two walked through the Baxter Building. Peter shrugged.

“Yeah, this building has some secrets - and there’s some things in Johnny’s notes that nobody should have to read, so thanks for _that_.” He replied. Jen laughed and Peter’s phone buzzed.

“ _Apparently you’re trending on twitter_ ,” Danny’s text read.

“ _Well I can cross that off my life goals. What for?_ ” he replied. The phone buzzed back right away.

“ _Darla tweeted your picture (tell everyone hi by the way)._ ”

“Iron Fist says hi,” Peter reported, looking up to give Jen a grin. She was watching him with a strange look.

“Tell him hi back,” she said after a beat. “Also, look while you’re walking - you almost ran into the end of the hall.” Peter turned his gaze forward, and jumped a little back at the wall about half a foot from his face.

“Why didn’t you - “ he stuttered, blushing behind the mask, “Right. Sorry, thanks.” He texted a quick reply to Danny and tucked his phone back away.

“So, is Iron Fist the only one you’re texting, Webs?” Jen asked with a smirk.

“Well I helped determine that the building’s not going to explode, I think it’s time for me to leave!” Peter said loudly, picking up the pace down the hall.

“What?” Onome came around the corner followed by the fish kids. “You’re not going to stay for dinner Mr. Spider-Man?”

“Leech and Artie helpd make dinner,” Vu said. “They were very excited.” Peter tried to resist, but kids were his weakness - he hated letting down kids. He sighed.

“Of course I’ll stay for dinner. Ah, what are we having?”

“I believe Dragon Man is making some pizzas,” Jen said. “Nothing to worry about, and maybe I’ll get to find out more about your secret texting buddy,” her smirk somehow got smirkier, Peter was a bit frightened.

“I don’t have a secr- ugh. I told you who I was texting!” he exclaimed as the kids giggled and ran off.

“Right, and Danny puts you in that good of a mood?” she clarified.

“I’m wearing a mask!” Peter exclaimed.

“And yet your one of the easiest super heroes to read,” she mused. Peter’s phone buzzed again. He tried to ignore it, and Jen’s look, and keep walking.

“You’re not going to ignore it, are you?” Jen teased, “How rude.”

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” Peter grumbled.

“Right, Right,” Jen said with a shrug. “I’m going to run ahead and make sure nothing’s on fire in the kitchen. See you there, Webs.” He waited for her to turn the corner before bringing his phone back out.

“ _Still, I take this to mean you survived?_ ” Danny wrote.

“ _So far, but the kids are going to feed me dinner so we’ll see_.”

“Ah-ha!” Jen exclaimed, popping back around the corner. Peter jumped, and then perched himself on the ceiling for good measure.

“Jen! You’ve been spending way too much time with these kids!” Peter exclaimed.

“Hey guys, what’s… going on?” Scott asked as he came around the corner.

“Nothing!” Peter exclaimed, dropping from the ceiling and rushing his way into the kitchen.

“I think our little Spidey may have a secret girlfriend,” Jen said.  There were loud gasps from around the table, and a few ‘oooooooohs.’

“I do not have a secret girlfriend!” Peter exclaimed, moving to where Artie was waving him over and taking the seat indicated.

“Do you have a secret boyfriend?” Onome asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I… no, I mean, he’s not secret or anything and he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Do you want him to be your boyfriend?” Alex asked.

“… yes,” Peter admitted. There were more ‘’oooooohs’

“Ask him out!” Alex said.

“Take him dancing!” Tong said.

“Take him to dinner,” Vu offered.

“Bribe him,” Bentley said in a bored tone. Peter groaned and put his head on the table, ignoring Jen who was mouthing apologies across the table.

“Ask his parents,” Onome said in a serious tone.

“They’re old, he doesn’t need to ask his parents,” Tong protested.

“Well they can’t go dancing - who would lead?” Onome responded.

“OKAY, let’s eat pizza!” Peter exclaimed as Dragon Man came into the kitchen holding two large pans.

 

“I am so sorry,” Jen repeated as she walked him to the door. Behind them, the FF had gathered around an air hockey table Bentley had built. There was no way that was going to end well, but it did look cool.

“It’s fine. I survived Middle and High School, I can survive romantic advice from ten-year-olds,” Peter replied.

“You did talk to Luke and Jess though, right?” Jess asked. Peter let out a heavy sigh.

“Yes, I even got their blessing - both of their blessings. Earlier today, actually. I just… ugh, this is probably a horrible idea.”

“Don’t overthink it Webs,” Jen said. There was a loud commotion from back down the hallway and she sighed. “Okay, that’s my cue - you good?”

“Am I ever?” Peter replied. Jen rolled her eyes, but turned back anyhow. Peter stepped out onto the balcony and webbed his way through Midtown.

 

“Hey Spider,” Cat said as she perched softly beside him. “how many muggings have you stopped today? I stopped three - am I winning?”

“You!” Peter said.

“Me,” Cat agreed.

“This is you’re fault - you with your stupid little line about Danny and I being a thing.” Felicia did not look impressed, she crossed her arms and frowned at him.

“Spider, what are you getting yourself worked up about?”

“I think you were right, and I think I might have feelings for him, and I don’t think that I should do anything about them but I want to!” Felicia gave a deep sigh and a very exaggerated eye roll, and then sat on the building edge, crossing her legs and giving him a bored look.

“Alright, lay it out for me,” she said. “One time offer Spider, make it quick. If you want to date this guy, why shouldn’t you?”

 “Because… because I have the worst luck ever. And if anyone’s running for second place, it’s probably Danny. Because there’s definitely a big part of him that still loves his ex and that’s still a possibility, you know? I… I wouldn’t want to take that away because of feelings I have that may just be… Him and his ex, they could get back together - they could have a family, a fantastic life together. I just… that’s not really in the cards for me.”

“Oh grow up Peter,” Felicia groaned.

“These are real concerns!” Peter exclaimed, “You can’t just brush them off.”

“You like this man, and he likes you. Who are you to decide what’s right for him, huh? He’s a grown-up, he can make his own decisions. Stop rationalizing your fear and ask him out already!” Felicia stood and hopped off to the next building, “Good luck,” she called back. Peter frowned as he watched her run off. Now that he thought about it, taking down some muggers _would_ make him feel better. His phone buzzed.

_“After your last text, a long stretch of hearing nothing concerns me.”_ Danny wrote.

“ _No food poisoning… I don’t think. Just cruising the streets for some trouble to stop.”_ He replied.

“ _Want any company? I could beat up some bad guys.”_ Was the reply. Peter stared at the phone for a minute before shaking himself back into the right mindset. Beating up bad guys with Danny he could handle.

“ _You’d certainly be more welcome company than Black Cat_.” He sent off, sparing a slight glare in the direction Felicia had ran off. “ _I’m over by the Baxter Building.”_

“ _Be there in 15. Cat make you another offer?”_

“ _A lecture, actually. It was kind of surreal.”_ Peter sighed and glanced around. The reply took a little longer, and Peter wondered if he should go find something to hit in the meantime.

“ _A lecture?”_

“ _I make bad decisions. It’s kind of a thing._ ” He sent. As he tucked his phone back into his uniform, he hopped up on the edge of the building and glanced around. That alley over there looked suspicious enough.

“Is that a scuffle I’m sensing?” he asked as he swung in through the alley and knocked the suspicious looking character towering over a touristy-looking family. “That was rhetorical,” he added, “I’m a good scuffle senser.”

“Spider-Man!” the thug exclaimed.

“That’s my name,” Peter agreed. He motioned for the potential victims to leave, but heard the tell-tale sound of a camera instead. Of course. The thug lunged for him, and he hopped smoothly over. “I don’t mean to be rude, but generally when the bad guys see me they give up right away.” He took a step to the side as his spidey sense went off. “They don’t call their buddies and try to sneak up on me, really.”

“You do make bad decisions,” Danny called. Peter glanced up to see Iron Fist take a really elaborate, impressive, acrobatic, and completely unnecessary path down from the roof. “two against one?”

“I’ll admit it’s not exactly sporting,” Peter agreed, side-stepping again as the other thug lunged at him. “Where do you think they find each other anyhow?” The first guy dove at him with a knife and he hopped up, pushing off of him to land on the wall. The shift in momentum and sudden weight sent the guy sprawling into the wall where he sunk down with a moan and Peter quickly webbed him up, grabbing the knife and tossing it into a nearby dumpster.

“Maybe they have an online meeting site?” Danny suggested, smoothly dodging a punch from the other thug.

“We talking Craigslist Missed Connections or eHarmony for thugs?” Peter asked, throwing a web to knock the guy’s gun from his hands. It skittered farther back in the alley.

“eCriminal?” Danny suggested, picking up the gun and using his iron fist to turn it to pieces. The thug gave a little squeak.

“CriminalMingle?” Peter offered. He sent out a webline as the guy tried to run and threw him next to his buddy, webbing them together. He heard another camera noise and gave a little jump - he had forgotten the family was still there.

“Thank-you Spider-man, Thank-you Daredevil!” they called as they fled the alleyway.

“What? But -“ Danny paused and Peter started laughing.

“Cool, I guess as long as I have someone with me, tourists will stop confusing me for Daredevil.”

“Irony never stops, does it?” Danny said with a sigh. He grinned and turned to Peter. “So, what’s your process to finding bad guys?”

“Just swing around. I thought you and Luke did this stuff all the time too?”

“Hey, we get hired. Generally if we end up fighting on the street it’s because trouble finds us.”

“Aw man, we have so much in common,” Peter said with a laugh. “I’m a trouble magnet.”

“Well, we’re friends right?” Danny said before hopping onto a fire escape and doing some screwing with the laws of physics to make his way up to the roof.

 

Two days later found Peter in the garden of the Avenger’s Mansion, reading a letter from Hope that had come with her regular update for Cap. The mansion kind of freaked him out to be honest. It wasn’t _his_ anymore. His team was gone, and the new team residing there always seemed about three seconds from exploding. Pus, Rogue always looked like she was about to murder him which he didn’t think was necessarily fair considering they had been on rather decent terms before… Rogue and Wanda had too, actually.  Maybe the mansion was cursed.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Peter focused back on the letter only to jump three seconds later at a sudden presence over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked, leaning over the back of the bench.

“Hope sometimes sends me letters with Cap’s update,” Peter replied, glancing over at him. Danny’s face brightened, and he walked over to sit next to Peter on the bench.

“That’s great, how is she doing?”

“She’s making friends, but still doesn’t feel like she belongs there,” Peter reported, frowning at the letter. “She’s trying to get me to help her convince Cap that she should be allowed to go to Wolverine’s school.”

“You don’t think she should?” Danny asked.

“I think that as long as young Cyclops is there she should stay away,” Peter said with a shrug. “Oh! Hey, you’ll get a kick out of this.” He reached around Danny for the abandoned envelope beside him and pulled out a picture, handing it to him.

“What… is that you?” Danny asked, frowning down at it. In the picture Hope, looking unenthused, was standing next to someone in a Spider-Man costume. Peter laughed.

“No dude, one of her school dances was super hero themed apparently. She got a picture with someone in full Spidey-regalia. But look at what Hope’s wearing,” Peter said, leaning over slightly to point at the picture.

“Is that… an Iron Fist t-shirt?” Danny asked. Peter bit back a grin at his excited tone.

“Yup. She made it herself too. She got a friend to show her how to use iron-on t-shirt things,” he decided not to mention that Hope had reported that no one knew who she was supposed to be.

“Did anyone know who she was?” Danny asked, the smirk on his face suggesting that he knew the answer. Peter shrugged.

“Eh. She did, and that’s what counts,” he said. Danny grinned at him, and Peter steeled up his nerves. “Hey, I was thinking that maybe we could - “ his phone starting ringing. Of course he didn’t.

“Uh, are you going to get that?” Danny asked, confues. Peter paused a beat before letting out a groan and pulling out his phone.   

“Hello?” It was MJ and she sounded kind of alarmed, Peter straightened up. “Yeah, no, I can be over soon. Do you need me to - no? Okay, okay, see you in a bit.” He turned to Danny, feeling the moment pass. “Hey, sorry, that was MJ I have to…”

“Oh, sure, yeah. Everything okay?” Danny asked, handing Peter the picture back.

“I’m not sure, but she asked for Peter, not Spidey so,” he shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you later.”

When he made it to MJ’s, slipping in the window, instead of chaos and trouble he found Carlie and MJ with ice cream, popcorn, and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

“I… you… I thought you were in trouble!” he exclaimed, peeling off his mask indignantly.

“I know, I’m sorry but we haven’t seen you in forever!” MJ replied. Carlie held up the DVDs with a hopeful smile. “We just wanted to hang out for a bit.”

“Well…” Peter sighed. “Fine, but next time just _say_ that. I was… I was sort of in the middle of something. So those better be the extended editions or I’m going to be in an even worse mood.”

“Would we offer anything less?” Carlie asked, moving over a bit to make room for him on the loveseat.

“What were you in the middle of?” MJ asked. Peter froze.

“Just… uh, a thing. Nothing major, so are we starting with the Fellowship then? I guess that would make the most sense. Did you see _the Hobbit_ it was pretty good, I thought,” Peter rambled. He stood, going for MJ’s kitchen. “Are you thirsty? I’m thirsty - how about a few waters, huh?”

“Peter,” MJ said slowly. “Did I interrupt a date?” he turned slowly back to face the two women, who were watching him with wide eyes.

“It wasn’t a date,” he muttered. “I was about to ask him on one though.”

“Alright. You’re telling us everything,” MJ said firmly, plopping down on the arm chair.

“Did you say him? Who is he?” Carlie asked.

“Start from the top, Parker,” MJ said with a smile.

“But what about Lord of the Rings?” Peter tried.

“Gandalf can wait until we dissect your love life,” Carlie said.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” His phone buzzed as he walked over, and he grabbed it just before Carlie could.

“ _Did you ask him out yet?”_ from Luke. He groaned.

 

It was still a few days before Peter and Danny could meet up for lunch again. Max was finally at the point where he neither wanted nor necessarily needed help with his project, which freed up Peter’s schedule He was glad, too; Sure he and Danny had still met up after work sometimes, but the lunches were special. Partly because they reminded him of High School; sitting at lunch with Harry, Gwen, and MJ and just eating and talking. It was a good feeling. Plus during the work day Danny generally wore suits, and it turned out that Peter liked the way he looked in a rumpled suit so he was a little bit regretful that he hadn’t gotten to see that lately.

Yeah, it’s not like he was proud.

But he _was_ excited for lunch, especially because he had finally managed to psych himself up to try asking him out again, so when Danny texted him an apology that he wouldn’t be able to get away from the office… he was pretty bummed. He drummed his fingers on his desk, glancing between the schematics he had sketched up for a phone case with solar charging capabilities and the window. Finally, with a sigh, he picked his phone back up.

“ _Is it lame to eat lunch at a restaurant alone?”_ he sent off. A minute later his phone beeped.

“ _Meet me at the burger place we went to after the thing with the kree ship. You’re buying,”_ came the reply. Peter grinned.

“ _Thanks Carol!”_ he sent, already heading for the door.

When he arrived, he spotted Carol sitting near the back and waved as he walked over only to notice that Jess and Jess were with her. All three wore identical grins.  

“Oh crap,” he muttered, spinning on his heel. Two seconds later Carol had a hand on his shoulder and was smirking.

“Not so fast Parker,” she said.

“MJ call you?” Peter asked rhetorically.

“Don’t be silly - Jess called me awhile ago,” Carol said, tugging him along to the table.

 

Meanwhile, at the café two blocks from the Rand building, Danny sat glancing at his watch. Sure Peter was late a lot, but he usually texted. He bit his lip, moving his gaze over to the silent phone sitting on the tabletop; It had been 15 minutes, maybe he should leave.

“Excuse me?” he looked up to see a woman smiling at him, standing next to his table.

“Um, hello,” he said. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so. See, I was meeting some friends here but they ditched me. I saw that you were sitting alone and… would it be a terrible imposition if I sat with you?” She asked. Danny blinked. She was cute, he had to admit, brown hair to her shoulders and blue eyes. Plus, it was never fun to eat alone.

“Sure, of course,” he said. He sat up a little. “Though I am meeting someone here, so - ” he trailed off as his phone buzzed.

“ _Sorry, can’t make it out of the lab today - explain later_ ,” from Peter.

Damn. Were things awkward? Danny tried to think back over the past week or so, had he said something stupid? He gave himself a shake as he remembered the woman across from him.

“Well, never mind I guess. I’m Danny by the way.”

“Felicia,” she supplied.

“No way is anybody your age is named Felicia,” Danny said with a grin.

“What can I say - my parents were fond of the classics,” She gave a small shrug. After they ordered, she rested her head on her hands - elbows perched on the table. “So Danny, what do you do?”

“I’m a business man,” Danny answered. “It’s all very boring, trust me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Felicia said with a small tilt of her head.

“Oh, it is. Trust me, especially when you look at some of my closest friends - most of them are private investigators. And one of my friends, Peter, he’s a crazy scientist type, he works over at Horizon Labs.”

“The big brain tank over by the pier?” Felicia clarified. Danny nodded.

“Yeah, it’s incredible the stuff they do over there. Some of the things Peter comes up with are just… amazing,” Danny replied. He blinked as he realized that Felicia was watching him closely. “What?”

“I love how enthusiastic you are. It’s… sweet,” she said with a smile. Danny distracted himself with their food arriving.

“Right, well, a lot of things are more interesting than business. What do you do?”

“Oh, I freelance,” Felicia answered, spearing some of her pasta with the fork. “A little of this, a little of that.”

“That’s a bit more vague than I’d expect from a freelance writer,” Danny said. Felicia grinned.

“I live to defy expectations. Anyway, I didn’t mean what you do for a living - I mean what do you do aside from that? It certainly doesn’t sound like you live your life for work.”

“Oh,” Danny said. “Honestly I’ve never really thought about it that way. I teach at The School of Thunder, it’s a -“

“No, I’ve heard of that place,” Felicia said, sitting up a little straighter. “They feed kids, teach them martial arts, and help with school work and such. You teach there?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. He restrained himself from going too far into it, riding high on the fact that she had heard of it. “I’m sort of a master of martial arts.”

“You do good work,” Felicia said with a smile. This one seemed softer than her earlier ones, more real maybe. “Those kids will use those skills in the future.

“Well, I’d like to hope they won’t need the nun-chuck lessons as much,” Danny said with a small smile. “But yeah, I’m glad they get the experience. They’re great kids.”

“It looks like they have a great role model for that,” Felicia said with another grin.

“What do you do?” Danny asked. “Aside from freelance.”

“Hmm, I do a lot,” She said. “I suppose this would be related to work, but I do a lot of traveling. I love a good adventure, you know.”

“Oh do I,” Danny agreed. “What countries have you been to?”  
“Hold on just a touch,” Felicia said. She pulled her phone from her pocket

and tapped on the screen a bit. “Ah. I have to go.” She stood, dropping some cash on the table. Danny followed her lead.

“I’ll walk you out,” he said.

“What a gentleman,” she said.

Once they reached the sidewalk, she turned back to him.

“Thank-you for sitting with me,” she said.

“It was my pleasure,” Danny replied. She took a step closer and slipped something into his pocket.

“There’s my card. If you’d like, we could grab a bite together again. Maybe something a little less… casual.” She was really, really close and Danny felt himself flush.

“No, look, Felicia,” he stammered. “You seem very nice, and I had a nice lunch but I’m sort of…”

“Seeing someone?” she asked.

“No, not… no. I’m interested in someone. And I, ah, I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere but it wouldn’t feel right to date when I’m still hung up on him.” Damn, even his ears felt red.

“You seem like a fantastic guy, Danny, why wouldn’t it go anywhere?” Felicia asked. She seemed perfectly calm for someone who had just been let down. A bit cheerful even.

“I don’t think he’s even into guys,” he admitted. “Plus I still think he’s hung up on his ex. I can understand that, too. It took me a long time to get over my ex fiancé, and I mean… he deserves better than me anyhow.”

“Men,” Felicia muttered, along with a few words Danny didn’t catch. “I say you should give it a shot,” she replied, putting a hand on his arm. “And be sure to let him know what a lucky guy he is.”

“I don’- Peter?” Danny started as he recognized his friend walking through the crowd. Peter himself gave a little jump, and he was a little red in the face as he turned around and walked cautiously over. “I thought you couldn’t make it out of the lab?”

“What are you talking about? You said you couldn’t make it. And I mean - hey, cool, looks like it was because you had a date and that’s great and everything but maybe, you know, don’t make plans at the same time,” Peter was definitely red now, and his gaze was more directed at Danny’s feet than his face. Danny took a slow step forward, realizing that Felicia had stepped to the side a bit.

“No, I… this isn’t a date, it’s… you sent me a text that you couldn’t make it.”

“You sent me a text that you couldn’t make it,” Peter said, glancing up at him in confusion. They both paused.

“Well this is awkward,” Felicia said. Danny turned to look at her in confusion, but she was grinning.

“Felicia?” Peter squeaked. “What are you… why are you… is that a wig?”

“I was undercover, Peter, my natural hair is a bit easy to recognize for your crowd. And as for _what_ I was doing, I think it’s pretty clear that I was having lunch.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Danny asked, still feeling a bit lost. Peter shot him a slightly desperate look and Felicia smirked. Then she reached up and pulled off her wig, freeing shiny white hair from an up-do.

Oh. White hair, friend of Peter’s, ‘your crowd’…

“You’re… Black Cat,” Danny said slowly. He felt his face go warm again. “What were you… doing?”

“I told you boys, I was undercover. Just gathering some info, nothing to worry your gorgeous little head about,” she gave him a wink. “And you do have my card, feel free to give me a call sometime. Just to chat - that’s all.”

Just to… oh god, he had just pretty much confessed his feelings for Peter and waxed poetic for like ten minutes to one of Peter’s exes and friends. Too one of Matt’s “it’s complicated,” relationship statuses. He kind of wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Yeah, she does that to people,” Peter said, patting him on the shoulder. Danny blinked, Felicia had vanished sometime in the previous five seconds. “Hey - what do you say to dinner tonight since we were conned out of lunch?”

“I’d love to but I have a meeting with Jeryn at 6 that’s not going to end until much later than that,” Danny said with a groan. He loosened his tie. “Dinner tomorrow?”

“Can’t. Thanks to Grady accidentally wiping me out of existence last week we have another lecture on the rules of reality tomorrow around 5... I’ll tell you about it later,” he added as Danny opened his mouth to ask. Peter’s phone beeped. “Speaking of which, he asked me to check his calculations when I got back to make sure nothing else gets wiped out of existence.”

“For what it’s worth I’m glad you exist,” Danny offered. Peter grinned.

“That’s good to hear, actually, thanks. I think tomorrow should work for lunch though.” Danny had no clue what he might have to do that day, but he instantly resolved to clear his schedule.

“Great,” he said.

“I gotta…” Peter gestured behind him.

“Right, yeah, I should get back to work too,” Danny said. Peter gave him another wave and turned to walk back to work, vanishing into the crowded sidewalk easily enough.

Well, if things weren’t awkward before, they probably would be now.  

 

The next day marked their first lunch in awhile. It was going really well too. Peter steeled himself, as soon as the waitress came back with the check, he would ask Danny out. He could do this.

“Okay, did you see the group two tables over?” Danny asked quietly as they exited the door.

“You mean Glary Mc. Glarisson and the oblivious lovebirds?” Peter clarified. Danny laughed and nodded.

“I’m surprised they didn’t notice at all - I was feeling a little residual heat there.”

“I know man, some possible super villain motivations there.” Peter shook his head with a grin. It was always fun to imagine what the lives of the people around them were like. Sometimes it was easy to forget that super heroes were a minority in the world.

“Maybe we should keep tabs,” Danny joked. He glanced down at his watch and frowned. Okay, this was it.

“Danny, I think -“ Peter paused and jutted out his leg as a man came sprinting down the sidewalk, a lady calling after him for her bag. The thief fell over, the bag popping from his grip and into Peter’s hands. He glanced down at it, and then back to Danny. Seriously? No; he was doing this. “I think that we - “

“Oh thank-you so much!” The woman exclaimed, finally catching up. She wrapped him in a vice grip hug. He squeaked out a placating phrase and tried to see where Danny had been pushed to. He heard Danny’s ringtone and then his voice.

“Jeryn, what is…? No, yeah, I’m on my way back now. Just… okay, yeah I’ll hurry.” He walked into Peter’s line of site and mouthed that he had to go. Peter gave the best nod he could manage in his current situation, and Danny smirked a little as he walked off.

“It’s no problem ma’am, really,” Peter wheezed out.

 

“So she gave me a $5 bill with her number on it,” Peter finished. Danny grinned as he ate his Sweet-and-Sour soup.

“What’d you do with it?”

“I crossed out her number best I could and bought an ice cream cone,” Peter replied.

“Ah,” Danny said.

“Mint Caramel Chip.”

“That sounds disgusting.”

“It wasn’t the best,” Peter admitted.

“Not entirely fitting for a job well done?” Danny clarified. Peter shrugged.

“Eh. This is pretty nice though.”  They were at Danny’s place, which was much nicer than Peter’s but held every sign of being used rarely. According to Jess, Danny spent most of his time in his room at the Cage’s.

“You have a weird look on your face,” Danny said.

“I was just thinking you could really use some posters in here. The décor is very sleek and modern, but not very you.” Danny shrugged.

“Eh, I barely spend time here anyway. Not much point.”

“A sure sign that you need to work less,” Peter said. “What was Jeryn’s crisis today, by the way?” 

“Oh just something involving one of the projects in development for next year. They want more money and we want less time. All that sort of business stuff. Oh! But Vincent had another pun ready for today.” Danny straightened up and grinned. Vincent was one of the security guards at the Rand office who always had a horrible pun waiting for him in the morning. Danny, being Danny, thought they were all hilarious.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” Peter said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes.

“Okay. What do you call a dog that can do magic?” He always left a pause before he answered, though he tended to be a bit put-out if you guessed. “A Labracadabrador!” He looked rather proud of himself, his smile was cheery, and he looked absolutely adorable.

“Oh my God, would you please date me?” Peter said, letting out a groan and leaning back in his chair.

“What?” Danny said. Peter jolted back into awareness.

“What,” he repeated.

“No, did you just - “ Danny started.

“No!” Peter exclaimed. Before his eyes, Danny’s expression dropped. “No no no, I mean that I _did_ but I didn’t mean to… like that, I mean.” Danny looked confused, Peter felt confused, this was a very awkward moment.

“Peter, wha - “ Danny tried again.

“Danny, I like you… a lot. And I like you as a friend a ton, but I’d also like to be… more than friends? Crap, that sounded horrible. I - “

“I’d love to date you, Peter.” Danny said, covering Peter’s mouth with his hand. There was a beat before he dropped it.

“Really?” Peter asked.

“Yes really,” Danny replied. “I’m crazy about you Peter. I didn’t think that you… I thought you were straight.”

“I’ve never really thought about it,” Peter said with a shrug. “That sounds like a weird thing to say for someone my age, but I just sort of roll with my attractions. I guess technically speaking I would be bisexual, I was nuts about Harry for half of college. You know what, never mind. Point is - I want to date you and you want to date me.”

“I also want to kiss you,” Danny said, moving in closer.

“That sounds good,” Peter said, closing the distance. The kiss is soft and slow at first, and then it builds. Peter lets out a soft humming noise and Danny grabs his shoulders, pushing in closer until they were kissing back against the couch.

There was a small coughing noise, and they broke apart.

“So! I’m guessing you finally asked him out,” Matt said as both of them turned to look at him. Peter let out a little groan and rested his forehead on Danny’s shoulder.

“Yup,” he muttered.

“Great - way to go. You guys feel up for helping me take out some bad guys down by the pier?” Matt asked. Peter lifted his head and looked at Danny. He shrugged.

“Okay, sure,” Danny said, standing and helping Peter up. “But you’re buying us dinner afterward.”

“I can see the headlines now,” Matt said with a smirk. “You know, sort of.”

 


End file.
